National Power, “Jin Seong-jun barely entered the U.S. with a criminal record”…與 “Self-harm against national interest” (comprehensive)

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Kwon Hee-won = On the 31st, the ruling and opposition parties fought over the delayed receipt of a U.S. visa that had been denied by National Defense Commission Chairman Jin Seong-jun of the Democratic Party of Korea.

When the People Power Party criticized it as "a symbol of the cracks in the ROK-US alliance" and a "diplomatic disgrace," the Democratic Party responded by telling the People Power Party to stop its anti-national interest behavior of dragging the ROK-US alliance into political conflict.

Senior Spokesperson Park Seong-hoon said in a commentary that day, "It is an unprecedented diplomatic embarrassment and national disaster that the Chairman of the National Defense Committee of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea received a request from our ally, the United States, to submit an English translation of a past National Security Act violation judgment and a criminal record report, and was only approved for entry after submitting these."

He continued, "It is a diplomatic disaster that we would not have had to experience if it were not for the person who called the allied forces an 'occupation force', insisted on their withdrawal, and insisted on an armed revolution with support from North Korea," and added, "Instead of saying that it was fortunate that the visa was issued late and talking about 'alliance development,' he should apologize to the public for throwing his status as chairman of the National Defense Commission to the ground and destroying trust in the ROK-US alliance."

Senior Spokesperson Park added, “(Chairman Jin) will get on a plane to Hawaii as if nothing happened now that he has a visa, but the bitter current state of the ‘creaking ROK-US alliance’ shown by this incident will never be erased.”

Accordingly, Democratic Party floor spokesperson Lee Joo-hee said in a written briefing, "The People Power Party passed responsibility to Chairman Jin before blaming the United States for the visa rejection," and asked, "Do they have no regard for the national interest by pushing their own lawmakers even though the legitimate legislative activities of the National Assembly were restricted?"

He went on to point out, “The (People Power Party’s) attitude of reprimanding even asking for an explanation (from the United States) for measures that blocked the National Assembly’s official activities is servile flunkeyism.”

Representative Lee said, "People Power Party lawmaker Lim Jong-deuk is also participating in Chairman Jin's visit to the United States," and criticized, "Making security diplomacy with lawmakers from our own party a political issue and ridiculing the official activities of the National Defense Commission Chairman is an anti-national self-harm that destroys the status and authority of the National Assembly."

At the same time, he demanded, “The People Power Party must stop its offensive of selling the alliance to political strife and apologize for undermining the official legislative activities of the National Assembly.”